PRODUCT REVIEW: DRUNK ELEPHANT BOUNCY BRIGHTFACIAL BRIGHTENING MASK WITH AZELAIC ACID AND SALICYLIC ACID - What Is Azelaic Acid? What Does Azelaic Acid Do to Your Skin?
DRUNK ELEPHANT | BOUNCY BRIGHTFACIAL
If you’re like me, you hadn’t heard of Azelaic Acid a year ago. And if you had, you likely didn’t know of its broad range of pro-skin health benefits.
Azelaic Acid has been around for years, but it hadn’t made it to the product marketing brainstorm meetings until recently.
But that’s how skincare marketing works. It’s all about the trends. One brand kicks things off with a distinctive innovation and, with a bit of sales #fomo, their competitors’ marketing directors and formulators hop on the bandwagon.
Professionally, that was my experience working at Kiehl’s for seven years. And personally, it’s been my experience with arguably the most popular skincare active today: Niacinamide. I had barely heard of Niacinamide when Paula Begoun, founder of the eponymous Paula’s Choice brand, introduced her now iconic 10% Niacinamide Booster in the sleek silver bottle six years ago.
On the Skincarma Blog last week, I wrote about a current skincare ingredient trend, peptides, and one of my fave new moisturizers of the year – the Naturium Multi-Peptide Moisturizer. As the name suggests, the $19 face cream is infused with multiple peptides that help firm skin and smooth the look of surface lines and wrinkles. IMO it happens to be the best moisturizer under $20. Catch my review of Naturium’s best product launch to date here.
PRODUCT REVIEW: NATURIUM MULTI-PEPTIDE MOISTURIZER - BEST FACE CREAM WITH PEPTIDES
Not to be outdone, last month The Ordinary renamed, repositioned and relaunched its popular “Buffet” peptide serum. Why? Because peptides are the hottest ingredient in skincare right now. They’re cropping up everywhere!
Even so, many brands have offered peptide face creams and anti-aging serums with peptides for years. As an example, Drunk Elephant first introduced its uber popular peptide-powered Protini™ Polypeptide Cream in January 2018 – exactly five years ago. Today, Protini remains a personal fave and one of the best moisturizers with peptides.
In fact, if you google “best moisturizers with peptides,” among the top results you’ll receive are First Aid Beauty’s Ultra Repair Firming Collagen Cream, the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream and, yes, Drunk Elephant’s Protini Polypeptide Moisturizer.
You can catch my review of Protini on the blog here.
Drunk Elephant has been leading innovation in the skincare marketplace since the day Tiffany Masterson launched her clean, clinical brand 10 years ago. In fact, Ms. Masterson jump-started the “cleanical” trend!
I’ve long admired Drunk Elephant for their product and ingredient innovations. And I often cite the brand’s $68 Protini™ Polypeptide Cream as the most expensive face cream I would ever pay for – or recommend others spend their money on.
PRODUCT REVIEW: DRUNK ELEPHANT PROTINI POLYPEPTIDE MOISTURIZER
A lot of people feel the need to spend exhorbitantly on skincare products. Why else would anyone pay $200 for a one-ounce jar of Creme de la Mer. Or, unbelievably, $395 for Dr. Barbara Sturm’s new night cream – almost twice the cost of La Mer? They’re certainly not paying for efficacy or innovative ingredient complexes backed by clinical results. They’re paying that because they want to.
With Drunk Elephant, you’re paying for quality, innovation and efficacy – with a touch of genuine credibility. Drunk Elephant doesn’t need to spin anything to convince me that the products are superior and, importantly, pro-skin health. I’m a day-one fan!
So when I spotted the brand’s new Bouncy Brightfacial with 10% Azelaic Acid, I knew it was legit. Interestingly, it comes at least six months to a year after the Azelaic Acid trend really took off with the introduction of the Paula's Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster last year. This time, Paula wasn’t the leader. The Ordinary lead the way with the introduction of their Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% quite a while ago. (The first online reference I found was from INCI Decoder in late 2016!)
My own deep-dive into Azelaic Acid products was last summer in a blog article titled, The Best Azelaic Acid Serums and Creams from Paula's Choice, The Ordinary and Naturium. You can catch it on the blog here.
THE BEST AZELAIC ACID SERUMS AND CREAMS FROM PAULA'S CHOICE, THE ORDINARY AND NATURIUM
You may be asking yourself, what is Azelaic Acid and what does azelaic acid do to your skin? In my article last week on the Naturium Multi-Peptide Moisturizer, I didn’t just google the definition of peptides – I sourced generative artificial intelligence for the first time ever.
Again, this week, I wanted to get a deep understanding of a trending skincare ingredient. So I asked the AI at you.com for answers. Powered by OpenAI’s Chat GPT, here’s what the new search technology came up with:
Azelaic acid is a naturally occurring acid found in grains such as barley [1], wheat, and rye. It has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties and is used to treat a variety of skin conditions, including acne, rosacea, and hyperpigmentation. It is available in topical creams, gels, and foams, as well as in suspension form. Azelaic acid works by killing bacteria that can cause acne, reducing inflammation, and helping to lighten dark patches of skin. It can also help to reduce redness and swelling associated with skin conditions.
With a clear, distinct, albeit AI-generated understanding of the benefits of Azelaic Acid, let’s take a closer look at the new Drunk Elephant Bouncy Brightfacial…
Drunk Elephant | Bouncy Brightfacial
I’ve been using the Drunk Elephant Bouncy Brightfacial for about a month now and have to admit that I really like it. I’ve grown accustomed to using an Azelaic Acid face serum or cream, having added one to either of my regular daily skincare routines about a year ago.
I have generally alternated between the Paula’s Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster and The Ordinary’s Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% and am excited to be among the first to try Drunk Elephant’s Bouncy Brightfacial. If you’re curious to see it in action, I invite you to watch me using it for the first time on my TikTok channel here.
But while I’m an early fan, I have to say that I chuckle a bit at the product’s positioning as a face mask. Drunk Elephant describes their new Bouncy Brightfacial as “a leave-on mask that visibly boosts radiance, clarifies uneven tone, fades spots, and reduces redness to reveal a brighter, bouncier, more even-looking complexion.”
Look, I’m pretty marketing savvy, having worked on skincare product marketing for years. I get it. I’m sure the brilliant marketers at Drunk Elephant had many conversations about the product’s positioning.
I imagine that conversations and concepts for the Bouncy Brightfacial bounced (no pun intended!) between making it a layering treatment as with the brand’s peptide-powered Protini™ Powerpeptide Resurfacing Serum with Lactic Acid or adjoining it to the brand’s successful facial mask franchise, alongside the F-Balm™ Electrolyte Waterfacial Mask and T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial™.
Clearly, the Drunk marketers (pun intended!) landed on the latter scenario – the Bouncy Brightfacial with Azelaic Acid would be a leave-on facial mask, rather than a layering treatment. That said, I never use it at the end of my skincare routine, as the brand directs: Apply two to three pumps as the last step in your nighttime or daytime routine.
Having written packaging directions like that hundreds of times over my career, I like to go my own way! I prefer to layer a calming moisturizer for sensitive skin over it. Why? Because Azelaic Acid tends to have a prolonged tingling effect – not unlike Glycolic Acid. It’s downright uncomfortable for about an hour after. That’s not specific to the Bouncy Brightfacial. It’s my experience with all products with a high concentration of 10% Azelaic Acid.
What Is Azelaic Acid and What Is Azelaic Acid Good for?
The AI’s definition of Azelaic Acid aside, I still wanted to go to my most trusted source for defining the benefits, derivations and uses of specific skincare actives: the Paula’s Choice Research Team. Yes, I trust Paula and her team more than a random artificial intelligence computer!
Azelaic Acid is not a new ingredient; rather, it’s one of those hidden gem natural (and sometimes synthetic) ingredients repositioned by skincare marketers as effective for promoting overall skin health. And like Niacinamide and Salicylic Acid, which are both essential for treating oily-skin, all skin types can benefit from what Azelaic Acid has to offer.
According to the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team,
Azelaic Acid is “a type of acid known as a dicarboxylic acid derived from grains that offers numerous benefits when applied to skin. For example, it’s a gentle leave-on exfoliant which helps unclog pores and refine skin texture. Azelaic acid also significantly lessens factors in skin that lead to redness and bumps. Azelaic acid is also an antioxidant.
Research has shown azelaic acid can significantly diminish blemishes, help fade the appearance of post-acne red marks and other discolorations, and reduce the kind of skin sensitivity that leads to redness.
Although azelaic acid can be derived from grains like barley, wheat, and rye, its lab-engineered form is typically used in skincare products because of its stability and effectiveness. Because of this, azelaic acid is considered a synthetic ingredient, but this is a clear case where the synthetic version outperforms the natural version, with no research indicating a risk to skin.
Azelaic acid is available in strengths of 10% or less over-the-counter, and in topical prescription products at concentrations between 15-20%.”
SKINCARMA ON TIKTOK
Catch my first impression of it!
Like the Paula’s Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster and The Ordinary’s Azelaic Acid Suspension 10%, the Drunk Elephant Bouncy Brightfacial is formulated with 10% Azelaic Acid. But Drunk Elephant opted to amplify Azelaic Acid’s appeal for oily skins by complementing it with 1% Salicylic Acid to help unclog pores and further exfoliate the skin surface.
But I think, as the name indicates, the product’s true benefit is as a complexion brightener. The gentle exfoliation provided by the combination of Azelaic and Salicylic Acid would certainly deliver a skin-brightening effect on their own, but Drunk Elephant seemed to believe their Brightfacial could be even better. So they added a slew of brightening antioxidants in the form of Niacinamide, Gallic Acid and Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate – a component of licorice root with the ability to help fade dark spots and soothe irritated or sensitized skin.
In short, Drunk Elephant’s Bouncy Brightfacial really is a brightening powerhouse! I’ve noticed that my skin appears brighter the mornings after I’ve nearly burned my face off with it. Not really, but that tingling is no joke!
Besides functioning as a superb antioxidant skin brightener, what else does the Drunk Elephant Bouncy Brightfacial do? Well, with a super lightweight lotion texture, it makes a great moisturizer for oily skin! With its blend of Salicylic Acid and handful of replenishing non-fragrant plant oils, including Pumpkin Seed Oil and Chia Seed Oil, it’s ideal for oily and even acne-prone skins.
Is it the best product for existing dark spots? It’s hard to say what removes old dark spots. The effective treatment of dark spots is specific to the individual’s skin and directly linked to their intensity and causes. If you have a concern for more intense dark spots, I recommend spot treating them first with the Paula’s Choice C25 Super Booster; it contains a 25% concentration of pure Vitamin C that makes a powerful dark spot treatment.
What I like about it: The Drunk Elephant Bouncy Brightfacial is such an intriguing product. It functions as an overnight brightening mask, a layering serum with Azelaic Acid and even a face cream for oily skin. I love its high concentrations of antioxidants, some of which do double duty as skin brighteners that can help to even out skin tone and even address hyperpigmentation and dark spots. IMO it’s a home run!
What I don’t like about it: I like everything about it, even if I think its positioning as an overnight mask is narrow-minded.
Who it’s for: All skin types, even very oily or acne-prone skins.
SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Drunk Elephant Bouncy Brightfacial for $68 here.
The Ingredient List of the Drunk Elephant Bouncy Brightfacial:
Water/Aqua/Eau, Azelaic Acid, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Salicylic Acid, Glycerin, Cucurbita Pepo (Pumpkin) Seed Oil, Salvia Hispanica Seed Oil, Sclerocarya Birrea Seed Oil, Pentylene Glycol, Diglucosyl Gallic Acid, Niacinamide, Phloretin, Allantoin, Ferulic Acid, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Extract, Behenic Acid, Glutathione, Linoleic Acid, Tocotrienols, Thioctic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Ergothioneine, Cholesterol, Ceramide NS, Ceramide AP, Ceramide EOP, Ceramide EOS, Ceramide NP, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Amylopectin, Ellagic Acid, Pseudozyma Epicola/Camellia Sinensis Seed Oil Ferment Extract Filtrate, Caprooyl Phytosphingosine, Caprooyl Sphingosine, Squalane, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Acetyl Glucosamine, Punica Granatum Extract, Dextrin, Sebacic Acid, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Oil, Tocopherol, Ceteareth-25, Phenoxyethanol, Sorbitan Isostearate, Polydextrose, Cetyl Alcohol, Caprylyl Glycol, Chlorphenesin, Polysorbate 60, Ethylhexylglycerin.
PRODUCT REVIEW: PAULA'S CHOICE 10% AZELAIC ACID BOOSTER
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